A free 19 track compilation from [adult swim] and Ghostly which features an exclusive Cepia track called "Ithaca" is out now.
Download Ghostly Swim here.
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All of the Cepia releases on Ghostly are now available as DRM-free digital downloads from the Ghostly Store.
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A live Cepia set from the Wordless Music Series in NY is available for download here.
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I will be performing at NY's Good-Shepard Faith Church on Wednesday, November 28th for the Wordless Music Series with Assaff Weisman and Max Richter.
Tickets are available here.
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BuyGhostly has sold out of Natura Morta CDs. It is still available for purchase online from Other Music, as well as your local record stores and digital distributors.
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Natura Morta is out now.
Press Release:
Minneapolis' Huntley Miller has thus far carved out a niche in modern electronic music with a pair of EPs and a well received series of remixes for the likes of Dosh (Anticon) and Fog (Lex); their utter
beauty notwithstanding, these experiments in tension & release and melody & mechanics are a mere prelude to his proper debut Natura Morta.
Recorded in seclusion throughout 2005 and early 2006, Miller characterizes Natura Morta as a "highly personal response" to the events and circumstances of his life at that time; one gets this sense in spades from an uncannily unique pairing of lilting melodies with beats arranged to an astonishing degree of detail. Like looking at a fractal, Natura is infinitely deep while remaining a singular aesthetic experience even on the surface. Tracks like "The Undeniable Bend" coast on grainy, minor-key synth stabs and erratic melodies while layers of digital disjecta burst and crackle across the stereo field; never has computer-based music approximated the environ of the outdoors in late afternoon so effectively, and clearly this conjuring of the natural
via the synthetic is Miller's gift to music.
Not only is Natura Morta a concise, confident statement from a unique musician at the top of his game, it's a re-imagining of the principles of complex electronic music, trained on the heart & awaiting the ears of those who long for the human element.
1. Braille Wounds
2. Opening Parade
3. The Undeniable Bend
4. Clay Face
5. Dot.
6. Hoarse
7. Untitled
8. Wavebnc
9. Tape
10. Natura Morta
11. Untitled II
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An exclusive digital only single, entitled Brown is available now from Warp's Bleep. They will also have the digital pre-release of Natura Morta available on August 14th. The physical copies will hit your favorite record emporiums on August 28th.
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Cepia - Natura Morta (CD/Digital) will be released August 28th on Ghostly International.
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"Flat (Cepia Remix)" has been re-released on Lusine's Podgelism CD (Ghostly).
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Cepia "Salt Field" is included on the recently released memory stick compilation Moss/Ghostly Music Edition 1
(M/GM1), read about it at Pitchfork
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courtesy of Ghostly
Cepia - Natura Morta (CD)
Ghostly International 2007
Cepia - Atlantic Blood (CD)
Sublight 2006
Cepia - Pearl EP (digital)
Ghostly Digital 2006
Cepia - Dowry EP (12")
Ghostly International 2004
"Flat (Cepia Remix)"
Podgelism (CD)
Ghostly International 2007
"X To M (Cepia Remix)"
Fragments (CD)
Merck 2007
"I've Already Forgotten (Cepia Remix)"
Hazardous Materials (CD)
Consumers Research & Development Label 2005
"You Need (Cepia Remix)"
Mr. Projectile - Sinking Remixes (12")
Semisexual 2004
"Naoise (Cepia Remix)"
Dosh - Naoise EP (CD/12")
Anticon 2004
"Cepia Remix"
Tiki Obmar - Seasons (CD)
Merck 2004
"Flat (Cepia Remix)"
Lusine - Flat Remixes (12")
Ghostly International 2004
"Ithaca"
Ghostly Swim (digital)
Ghostly International/Adult Swim 2008
"Opening Parade"
Break-A-Way Planets (CD)
Ghostly International 2007
"Ramp" and "Hoarse"
Idol Tryouts Two: Ghostly International Vol. Two (2xCD/3xLP/digital)
Ghostly International 2006
"Ncoin Arrange"
Aurora 2 (CD)
Merck 2005
"Wavebnc1"
Cottage Industries 4 : Meadow (CD)
Neo Ouija 2005
"The Marina, The Bank, and The Eels"
Ghostly International : Avant-Pop (CD)
Ghostly International 2004
"Sqr Exp" and "Ramp"
SMM Vol. 2 (12")
Ghostly International 2004
"Sqr Exp"
Crossfaded Vol. 2 (CD)
Firetrunk 2004
Forthcoming
"Algiers" on Unusual Animals comp (CD/digital) Asthmatic Kitty
-5.16.08 Minneapolis, MN @ Kitty Cat Klub
-4.25.08 Minneapolis, MN @ Kitty Cat Klub w/ Pat Morita, Chicken Man
-4.3.08 Iowa City, IA @ Mission Creek Festival
-3.29.08 St. Paul, MN @ Minnesota Museum of American Art
-3.5.08 Minneapolis, MN @ Uptown Bar w/ Mystery Palace
-1.5.08 Minneapolis, MN @ Kitty Cat Klub
-11.28.07 New York, NY @ Wordless Music Series w/ Max Richter
-11.17.07 St. Paul, MN @ Minnesota Museum of American Art
-11.13.07 Chicago, IL @ Sonotheque
-10.20.07 Minneapolis, MN @ Kitty Cat Klub
-9.15.07 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock w/ Fog, Tarlton
-9.14.07 Northfield, MN @ Pause w/ Tarlton
-8.24.07 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry w/ Carbon Carousel
-6.15.07 Minneapolis, Mn @ Kitty Cat Klub
-5.19.07 Minneapolis, Mn @ Kitty Cat Klub
-4.14.07 Minneapolis, Mn @ 400 Bar w/ Halloween Alaska
-2.24.07 Minneapolis, Mn @ Spark Festival w/ Morton Subotnick, Richard Devine
-2.24.07 Mineapolis, Mn @ 7th St. Entry w/ Mystery Palace, Carbon Carousel
-11.2.06 Minneapolis, Mn @ Weisman Art Museum
-11.11.06 Northfield, Mn @ Pause
-5.26.06 Minneapolis, Mn @ Kitty Cat Klub w/ Yard, M50
-5.5.06 Minneapolis, Mn @ Kitty Cat Klub w/ Pat Morita, DJ ChickenMan
-3.31.06 Minneapolis, Mn @ Dinkytowner w/ Rob Hall
-2.25.06 Minneapolis, Mn @ Spark Festival w/ Ben Neville, Randy Jones, Thinkbox
-2.24.06 Minneapolis, Mn @ Kitty Cat Klub
-1.27.06 Minneapolis, Mn @ Kitty Cat Klub w/ Foodteam, Toiletooth, Ghost Band
-12.23.05 Minneapolis, Mn @ Kitty Cat Klub w/ Mr. Projectile, Adam Johnson
-11.18.05 Minneapolis, Mn @ Kitty Cat Klub w/ Pat Morita, Jon Ackerman
-11.12.05 Beloit, Wi @ C-Haus
-11.11.05 Madison, Wi @ Inferno
-10.16.05 Minneapolis, Mn @ Soap Factory w/ Benoit Delbecq
-9.25.05 Seattle, Wa @ Decibel Festival w/ Isolee, Thomas Fehlmann, Tipper
-9.17.05 Minneapolis, Mn @ Kitty Cat Klub
-9.15.05 Minneapolis, Mn @ The Whole
-9.14.05 Northfield, Mn @ The Cave w/ Mobius Band
-7.08.05 7th St. Entry, Cepia with Fog, Dosh, Kill The Vultures, JG Everest
-3.21.05 Empty Bottle, Chicago IL - Cepia with Fog
-3.06.05 Rogue Buddha Gallery, Cepia with Glory Land Ponycat
-12.23.04 Acadia, Cepia with Sean Connaughty, Food Team, Fadladder
-12.17.04 Kitty Cat Klub, Cepia with Dosh, DJ Pat Morita, Data General
-11.11.04 Kitty Cat Klub, Cepia with Greg Davis, Signer, Ariel Pink
-11.08.04 Danny's, Chicago IL - Cepia with Dosh
-11.04.04 Triple Rock Social Club, Cepia with Dosh
-10.23.04 Kitty Cat Klub, Cepia with Solvent, Lusine
-10.22.04 Riverhorse, Milwaukee WI - Cepia with Solvent, Lusine
-10.21.04 Catacombs, Madison WI - Cepia with Solvent, Lusine
-10.01.04 Dinkytowner, Cepia with Richard Devine
-9.30.04 Dinkytowner, Cepia with Mr.Projectile, Deceptikon
-9.18.04 Strictly Butter on KFAI, Cepia with Norton Fortune
-9.18.04 Soulful Science on Radio K
-9.17.04 Kitty Cat Klub, Cepia with Miles Tilmann, Quantazelle, and Adam Johnson
-8.21.04 Triple Rock Social Club, Cepia with Christian Marclay/Andrew Broder/George Cartwright,
Dosh (Anticon)
-8.14.04 Uptown Bar, Cepia with Happy Apple
-8.08.04 Triple Rock Social Club, Cepia with Bill Mike, Tiki Obmar (Merck)
-7.24.04 Ghostly Showcase @ Triple Rock Social Club, Cepia with Dabrye,
Matthew Dear, DJ SV4
-6.25.04 Kitty Cat Klub, Cepia with Dosh (Anticon), Andrew Broder (Lex), Sevendollars,
DJ Kasi Wynn Engler
-6.11.04 Kitty Cat Klub, Cepia with Team Shadetek (Warp), DJ Pat Morita
-4.23.04 Kitty Cat Klub, Cepia with Eric Skogen (EEM), DJ Pat Morita
-4.14.04 Bryant Lake Bowl, Cepia with Hymie's Basement (Lex)
-4.09.04 Kitty Cat Klub, Cepia with Bill Mike
-3.26.04 Kitty Cat Klub, Cepia with Signaldrift (Wobblyhead), Miles Tilmann (Toytronic),
DJ Robert Sinewave (Consumers Research and Development)
-3.25.04 Dinkytowner, Cepia with Tiki Obmar (Merck), Your Friend Kid Tiger, Kasio
-3.12.04 Kitty Cat Klub, Cepia with Tiki Obmar (Merck), Joe Schreiner (Narita)
-2.20.04 Spark Festival, Cepia with Gregory Taylor, Jeremy Bernstein
-2.13.04 Kitty Cat Klub, Cepia with Dosh (Anticon), DJ Pat Morita
-1.18.04 Tabu, Cepia with Pat Morita, Surfacenoi3
-1.09.04 Kitty Cat Klub, Cepia with Adam Johnson (Merck), Joe Schreiner, DJ Pat Morita
-1.04.04 Clown Lounge, Cepia with Andrew Broder, Happy Apple, Fat Kid Wednesdays,
James Everest, Kasio
-12.31.03 Karl's Cabin, Detroit MI- Cepia with Lusine (Ghostly), Mr.Projectile (Toytronic),
Miles Tilmann (Toytronic)
-12.29.03 Danny's, Chicago IL- Cepia with Mr.Projectile (Toytronic), Miles Tilmann (Toytronic)
-12.26.03 Kitty Cat Klub, Cepia with Dosh (Anticon), Mr. Projectile (Toytronic), Dave Olson (Parotic),
Rod Smith, Eric Skogen (Surgery), Tiki Obmar (Merck), DJ Pat Morita, Region
-12.20.03 Kitty Cat Klub, Cepia with Bill Mike
-11.21.03 Ghostly Showcase @ Kitty Cat Klub, Cepia with Lusine, Twine
Cepia - Natura Morta
[Ghostly, 2007]
Obviously there's no war between record labels in electronica—no equivalent of hip-hop's Bad Boy/Death Row tussle, no real gauntlet thrown down in the Big Pond. It's not part of the art- and artist-centric culture of the genre at large, but struggling to grab the attention of the same sea of ears (not to mention new ones) is. Two tracks in on Cepia's second CD, Natura Morta, and we hear floating above the zen state funky-drummer fills of "Opening Parade" tones that damn near meow at you, tones we've heard before and love to this day. This is not to say that Cepia's ripping off anyone; it's more like he, Huntley Miller, is settling into a style or hitting a harmonic or using a particular instrument/sample that sends us into orbit. Even with a roster featuring up-and-comers like Lusine and Matthew Dear, it is this album in sum that delineates just how much ground Ghostly and their ilk have gained on stalwarts such as Warp. Yes, stuff like Squarepusher's sociopathic jazz is inferred at the start of Cepia's "Clay Face," but Miller eventually contorts that skronk into approximations of classic rock guitar riffs. The opening spirals of "Tape" stay in that oeuvre by recalling the intro of David Bowie's "Fashion," and then Miller twists the rest back into shape: it still revels in synthetic majesty, just violinesque glitch and brass-like swooshes full of bravado instead of Bowie's androgynous divadom. Where electronic acts have remixed indie-rockers often beyond recognition, you might also mistake "Hoarse" or "The Undeniable Bend" for instances of turned tables—Coldplay hypothetically softening the edges of Autechre, for example, with the results sounding nowhere near as frightfully bad as you might imagine. We even find nods to the eerie: drumbeats like gasps of air and loops that suggest failing motors, detuned music boxes, slowing windup toys, a submerged carousel. Amid all the lively activity it's these sounds that really make us wonder about what inspired Miller to hunker down at home in Minnesota and polish up this little gem. There is far greater depth on Natura Morta than is suggested by its 33-minute length; it's more a mine from which to reap benefits rather than a cave in which to get lost. (AB)
e/i Magazine
Cepia - Natura Morta
[Ghostly, 2007]
'Natura Morta', Cepia's first album, was recorded in seclusion over two years and is supposedly a highly personal response to the events and circumstances of his life at the time. What those circumstances are remains a mystery, but 'Natura Mora' hints at melcancholy, fragility, long periods of reflection and finding beauty in detail.
Fans of Manitoba, Fridge, and Four Tet circa 'Pause' will instantly be on familiar ground. 'Natura Mora' has an organic feel derived from sounds that (sometimes almost exactly) mimic nature mixed in with obviously electronic bleeps. It sounds like Cepia, aka Huntely Miller, has absorbed a foresty wilderness and tried to express all the branches, droplets and leaves through his synthesiser. There are beats, sure, but they are so fragmented and irregular as to provoke thoughts, not toe-tapping. On a fair few of the tracks such as 'Opening Parade' and 'Hoarse' Cepia juxtaposes skitty backgrounds with long tones and child-like piano and glockenspiel tunes. Even though this trick is used more than once, it's a credit to Cepia that the songs have real longevity with repeat listening proving very rewarding.
Elsewhere on 'Natura Morta', the church bell melody and frenetic morse code of 'Clay Face' is a treat and 'Dot' sounds like circuit boards singing underwater. Opener 'Braile Wounds' and 'Wavebnc' are gorgeous soundscapes that evoke beautiful skies whilst 'Untitled II' has a glacial intensity that makes it arguably the best track on the album.
'Natura Morta' means 'dead nature', which is an intriguing title, especially for an album which was made with machines. It also neglects the fact that this album has a certain quality that sounds, in a furtive, unsure way, very much alive. Let's hope it doesn't get pillaged by the advertising industry.
Resident Advisor
Cepia - Atlantic Blood
[Sublight, 2006]
Fans of Cepia's Ghostly EPs Dowry and Pearl will have to wait a little bit longer for his full-length debut: though an album in track number (actually more a mini-album at 31 minutes), Huntley Miller's Atlantic Blood mixes three originals with six remixes, often making it seem more a compilation with Cepia (pronounced 'SEP-ee-uh') contributions the unifying factor. The album's most encouraging aspect is that the three originals are perhaps its strongest material which therefore makes his eventual full-length coming-out all the more enticing. Opener “Atlantic Blood” is suitably oceanic (though the water temperature is more a warm bath than the frigid cold of the lower depths) and also one of the loveliest electronic pieces heard in recent days. Cepia clothes a sing-song melody in muffled granular garb during “574” and lifts the vaporous cloud “Arount” up to the heavens.
Miller typically imbues the remix material with a stately dreaminess and intensifies its machine dimension, regardless of the originals' stylistic contrasts. On the sweeter tip, Miles Tilmann's “I've Already Forgotten” glistens beatifically while the (untitled) Tiki Obmar overhaul sweetly blossoms into a mass of shimmering tones, garbled voices, and machine ripples. Cepia adds a faded electro-ambiance to the propulsive remix of Mr. Projectile's “You Need” and rides a smeared funk-hop groove under a melancholy, child-like vibes figure in Dosh's “Naoise.” The most unusual of the lot, Fog's “Can You Believe It?” embeds vocals in a creaking, carnivalesque haze. Whether originals or remixes, it's all ultra-refined and exquisitely rendered. Now about that full-length…
Textura
Cepia - Pearl EP
[Ghostly Digital, 2006]
The second installment of the Ghostly Digital series finds Idol Tryouts/SMM staples Cepia coming to the plate to deliver a digital-only EP filled with the IDM-pop goodness one has come to expect from the Minnesota native. But what's surprising about this EP is that it is easily some of Cepia's most polished and innovative work, and a curiosity as to whether or not this a teaser of what could possibly be a full-length. The opening ambient landscape sets the stage for an all-out three-track assault of glitches, cuts, pops, and quirks all floating above a frantic percussion track which, when stripped of rhythm, seems to be measured chaos. The results are potent and engaging, with the only release coming in the EP's final seconds, when ambient swells wash away the debris.
All Music Guide
Cepia - Dowry EP
[Ghostly International, 2004]
With its multi-layered comminglings of clanking beats and melancholy themes, Dowry, the first release from Minneapolis-based Huntley Miller (aka Cepia), follows in the mechanical footsteps of Autechre and more recently Traject. The familiarity of its style is more than compensated for by the quality of its tracks, however, even if one (“Gas”) is a mere fragment. On the atmospheric tip, there’s the gently percolating “Countrytime” and “L2,” a mournful coda of gauzy ambience. Harder-edged bass pounds and fuzzy skitter enliven “The Marina, The Bank and The Eels” but the title track, where stately melodies stubbornly bleed through entangling tendrils of squawks, whirrs, and clicks, is the real stunner. A strong debut from Mr. Miller.
Stylus Magazine
